Vietnam tour

(VEN) - With the aim of encouraging tour guides to improve their performance in order to better meet the needs of travellers, the Vietnam Tourism Association’s (VTA) Vietnam Tour Guides Association (VNTG) is launching a pilot program to rank guides on the basis of their knowledge and skills. According to VTA data, Vietnam currently has more than 23,000 guides for inbound and outbound tourism, and the figure is almost 30,000 if voice-over guides and guides at specific tourist attractions are taken into account. However, only about five percent of these guides have signed a work contract with tour operators, while the remaining 95 percent work on a freelance basis. VTA Chairman Vu The Binh said the service by freelance tour guides is often substandard, negatively affecting the tourism sector’s prestige. At some tourist attractions, guides are required to meet fewer and fewer conditions and requirements, he said. The EU has helped the VTA’s Vietnam Tour Guides … [Read more...] about Tour guide rating piloted in Vietnam

Vietnam to start rating tour guidesBy Dao Loan Some tour guides pose for a photo before welcoming international tourists disembarking from a cruise ship – PHOTO: DAO LOAN HCMC – The Vietnam Tour Guides Association under the Vietnam Tourism Association will this month start rating tour guides in a pilot program, classifying them into three levels from three to five stars. The ranking is based on three main criteria, including capacity (20% of the total score), knowledge (50%) and skills (30%). Tour guides who receive 51 points or more are ranked at the three-star, four-star or five-star levels. The program will be applied to members of the association during the initial phase and will then be expanded to cover all tour guides after the pilot ends and the associated criteria and regulations are completed. The pilot is slated to begin with the HCMC Tour Guide Association between October 22 and 24 and will be run in Hanoi City and Quang Ninh Province among other … [Read more...] about Vietnam to start rating tour guides

The programme, which will get financial assistance from the EU, aims to evaluate the overall performance of tour guides but also improve their performance and service quality. In a pilot phase until December, the Vietnam Tour Guide Association will assess the performance of tour guides in HCMC, Hanoi and provinces such as Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa and Lao Cai. The assessment criteria will include guiding capacity, knowledge and skills and candidates will get ratings from three-star to five-star, according to Vu The Binh, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association. In the pilot phase, only members of the VietnamTour Guide Association would be eligible for the programme, he said. It would be scaled up next year with the completion of regulations and criteria for ratings and all tour guides in the country would be encouraged to join, he said. There are more than 23,000 licensed tour guides in the country, including 14,428 international guides and 8,412 domestic guides. But only 5 … [Read more...] about Tour guide ranking begins in HCMC

On the cyclo, visitors will have an unobstructed view as they move slowly enough to see everything along the street, while learning all about the city through the drivers’ guidance. “For just VND150,000, you can travel across the city.” The ads spoken in an authentic Hue accent by cyclo drivers are too attractive for visitors to deny. On the cyclo, painted green or purple, visitors will have an unobstructed view as they move slowly enough to see everything along the street, listening to the clicking sounds when pedalling while learning all about the city through the drivers’ guidance. There are around 5,000 registered cyclos in Hue, which are available at every corner of the city’s tourist attractions: around the Imperial city, along Huong (Perfume) River, Truong Tien Bridge, and Dong Ba Market. Not only serving tourists, cyclos are also used in weddings and engagement ceremonies in Hue. Looking back to the past, when living conditions were more … [Read more...] about Cyclo tour – a leisurely sightseeing experience in Hue

The latest statistics from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) show Vietnam sixth among the world’s 10 fastest growing travel destinations in the first months of 2017 and first in Asia, thanks to efforts by the government, ministries, sectors, and localities to make tourism a spearhead industry. 2017: Vietnam among world’s 10 fastest growing destinations Last year Vietnam welcomed more than 13 million foreign visitors, up 28%. The growth brought tourism turnover to US$23 billion, up more than 25%. Tourism now contributes 7% to the national GDP. Early last year, the Politburo issued a Resolution on making tourism a spearhead economic sector. The National Assembly passed a revised Law on Tourism. The Government also approved two new visa policies, granting e-visas to foreign visitors and exempting visitors from five Western European countries – the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain - which has encouraged travel and attracted more tourists. … [Read more...] about 2017: Vietnam among world’s 10 fastest growing destinations

In Florida, Ambassador Vinh had a meeting with Congressman Ted Yoho, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives and visited a number of localities and trade and research agencies of the state. The official also worked with some local businesses, leaders of the Biotechnology Research Center of the University of Florida, and had a talk with lecturers and students of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. Ted Yoho showed his delight at the growth of the Vietnam-US relations over the past years, especially in 2017 with the fruitful visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the US in May 2017 and a Vietnam tour of US President Donald Trump in November 2017. At the meetings, Vinh introduced the potential and strengths of Vietnam, pledging that Vietnamese representative office in the US will work to connect Florida businesses with Vietnamese peers. Vietnam is now Florida’s ninth largest trade partner with two-way trade of nearly USD 2 billion. … [Read more...] about Vietnam seeks to boost ties with US states

The HCMC Tourism Department has reassured the 19,000 freelance tour guides that they will not have to become members of tourism associations or tour guide associations. There are about 19,000 freelance tour guides Under the new Tourism Law, tour guides can practice if they can satisfy three requirements. They must have tour guide cards and labor contracts signed with travel firms, or tour guide service firms, or membership in professional associations in tourism. They also must have contracts on providing tour guide services, or documents on duty assignments. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has asked agencies to strengthen control over tour guides and establish the Vietnam Tour Guides Association. Vietnam has about 20,000 tour guides, including 19,000 freelancers, while 90 percent of them are not controlled by any organization. VNAT hopes the new law will help manage freelance tour guides. Tran Van Hoa from Asia DMC said tour guides have expressed … [Read more...] about 19,000 freelance tour guides won’t lose right to practice

Freelance tour guides in HCMC have complained about a requirement that forces them to use smartphones and subsribe to the Viettel mobile network when joining the Vietnam Tour Guides Association. A tour guide (L) takes international tourists to the Reunifi cation Palace in District 1, HCMC In a complaint sent to authorities and media outlets last week, tour guides voiced their concern over the mobile carrier requirement. They said such a requirement is not suitable for those tour guides who are neither young nor familiar with smartphones.In addition, an annual membership fee of VND500,000 and an entry fee of VND500,000, according to the tour guides who filed the complaint, are unreasonable. They want an association for tour guides in HCMC.The Vietnam Tour Guides Association, under the Vietnam Tourism Association, was founded last month, just before the new tourism law goes into force.Under the new law, those wanting to cater to tourists are required to possess tour guide ID, have … [Read more...] about Tour guides complain about phone and carrier requirements

- Last month, UNESCO added Vietnamese ‘Bai choi’ folk music to its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list during the 12th session of their Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in South Korea.Bai choi, an art form that combines music, poetry, acting, painting, and literature, has been an important and indispensable spiritual and cultural practice of people in central Vietnam over past centuries.Meanwhile, Xoan singing - a folk music genre in Vietnam’s northern midland province of Phu Tho - was removed from the Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and added to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. Xoan singing is a type of performing art, attached to the cult of worshipping Hung Kings, the legendary founders of Vietnam, and performed by farmers growing wet rice in the midland areas."Both Bai choi and Xoan singing are in need of protection and the best way to promote these art forms are through performances to … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s major cultural events in 2017

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged the imperial city of Hue to take advantage of its historic beauty and heritage to attract more tourists. The central city, the seat of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 until the end of feudal Vietnam in 1945, stands out from other parts of the country thanks to its Imperial Citadel and royal tombs that have made it the top tourist destination in Thua Thien-Hue Province for years. In 2017, the province attracted 3.78 million visitors, up 16 percent against the previous year, including 1.45 million foreigners, up 34 percent. In total it earned VND3.52 trillion ($155 million) from tourism last year, up 10 percent against 2016. Though these results may seem positive, the tourism and service sector has not reached its full potential, shown by the fact it only contributed 15 percent to the province’s 2017 budget collection, said PM Phuc. The province’s economy expanded by 7.76 percent last year, falling short of its target of … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s royal city is stunning but that alone won’t lure enough tourists